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Why should not the Congress(I) high command tolerate a few non-Congress(I) governments? Is it a Mughal empire in which nobody should have a small kingdom?- Ramakrishna Hedge, Karnataka chief minister

Battling for survival, a besieged Hegde, who heads the only Janata Government in the country, must have felt like a recalcitrant vassal under fire from the mighty Congress(I) Mughals. In an atmosphere of Watergate intrigue and some brazen political horse-trading a defiant Hegde repulsed a sustained Congress(I) onslaught to pull down his tenderfoot government and establish its suzerainty over the southern state.

That Hegde was vulnerable to Congress(I) raids was clearly evident. In a month dominated by bizarre political developments three independent Karnataka Legislative Assembly members, who initially supported the Janata Government, joined the Congress(I) party and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member defected to the Karnataka Kranti Ranga (KKR) led by the maverick S. Bangarappa who has joined forces with the Congress(I) again.

The defections shook the minority government formed 11 months ago with support from members of four 'friendly' parties and 14 independent assembly members giving it a vulnerable majority of 133 in the 225-member lower house.

But just when the Congress(I) seemed to be making lethal inroads Hegde played his ace: he got C. Byre Gowda, independent MLA - and the Hegde-appointed chairman of the Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board - to record on an office dictaphone an alleged conversation with Veerappa Moily, the Congress(I) leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, in which Moily is said to have offered Gowda Rs 2 lakh to defect and named other defecting MLA's including four ministers in Hegde's Cabinet.

The "Moily tapes" blew the lid off Congress(I) plans to topple the Government. It sent shock waves throughout the country and opposition leaders staged an angry walk-out in Parliament. Said bearded Janata Party President Chandra Shekhar: "There can't be anything more sordid than this. More disturbing is the silence of the prime minister."

Failed Strategy: Although Moily accused Hegde of "concocting" the tapes and wanted a Supreme Court inquiry which was refused by the Union Law Ministry, the tape exposure was a severe blow to the Congress(I) strategy for it sent potential defectors scurrying into hiding.

In an unprecedented press conference, nine ministers in Hedge's Government, including three of the four implicated in the Moily tapes, reaffirmed their loyalty to the chief minister.

The Congress(I)'s calculations of a domino effect that was to result from the earlier four defections boomeranged. Vasant Bangera, the BJP MLA who had defected to the KKR, returned to his party with the incredible claim that he had been "mesmerised" by Bangarappa.

Meanwhile Hutchmasti Gowda, the powerful independent MLA who had declared his intention to join the Congress(I), was heckled by a 2,000-strong mob in Chikmagalur, which made him wear bangles and presented him with a sari. Gowda later alleged that the mob had tried to kill him and filed criminal charges against local MLA Narayana Gowda for instigating it.

Fearing similar retribution two other independent MLA's, G.F. Upnal and Father Jacob, who were said to have joined the Congress(I) with Hutchmasti Gowda, hastily refuted that they had withdrawn their support to the Janata Government.

Hegde asserted: "The Congress(I) will not succeed in their topple bid. The people will not allow them."

But having tasted blood the Congress(I) is unlikely to go slow on its toppling bid and the fate of Hegde's minority hangs in the Balance - the Moily tapes being what A.K. Subbiah, an opposition leader, calls "only an oxygen tent for the ministry".

The Congress(I) was not chary of hiding its intentions and C.M. Stephen, All India Congress Committee(I) (AICC-I) general secretary, unabashedly proclaimed: "We are after Hegde's blood and we can exercise the right to approach every non-Janata MLA and ask him to come out of the Government.

If Hegde is thinking of continuing in power we warn him that he would have sleepless nights as the sword of Damocles will be hanging over his head."

All eyes are now riveted on the results of the civic elections in six districts to be held on December 4 which will either hasten or slow the process of destabilisation that the Congress(I) has set in motion and is determined to see through to its logical end.

But for Congress(I) heavyweight Buta Singh, who, Janata leaders allege, has repeatedly attempted to topple Hegde's Government ever since it came into existence in January last, its fate is already sealed. Denying any involvement, he said: "Hegde has already lost the majority in the house. It is only a matter of time when the Janata's minority support will be exposed."

Defection Moves: Forming governments with defector help is a game that the Congress(I) has honed to perfection in Karnataka. Only three years ago the brash R. Gundu Rao, starting with 47 MLA's, formed a government with the help of defectors and by the end of his tenure had built up an astounding majority of 185 MLA's.

The party's latest attempt in Karnataka has however, a larger objective. Confessed a Congress(I) leader: "It's for the Parliament elections that all this is being done. We don't want a Janata government in Karnataka when we go to the polls."

The Congress(I), with the three southern states, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, slipping gradually from its grip, wanted to regain control of at least one of these states before it called the Lok Sabha polls.

In Karnataka where right now it has 27 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats it was keen on retaining its strength. But Hegde was proving to be too much of a nuisance who had to be taken care of before the polls.

Speculation that Mrs Gandhi was planning to call for a mid-term Lok Sabha poll gained some credibility with the Congress(I) hastening its plans to topple Hegde's Government and lodge its own in Karnataka although it earlier schemed to do so only in March 1984.

Hegde was proving to be a dangerous opponent. While at the state level he was successfully building up the Janata base and showed signs of lasting his full term despite inherent handicaps, at the national level he had been able to build an anti-Congress lobby like the council of southern chief ministers that was proving to be quite a thorn in the side of the Central Government leadership.

Said a smug Hegde: "They thought we would fall in a few weeks. But when that didn't happen they tried to topple me by buying defectors."

Bangarappa (left) with Bangera: Carefully orchestrated moves

Initially Congress(I) members maintained very stoutly that Operation Topple was conceived of as a way of preventing further exodus of their MLA's after the Janata Party weaned four of them - N.G. Naik, Devendrappa Ghallappa, K.P. Shantamurthy and N.G. Chennappa - away from the party.

But with Central leaders backing the topple move this seemed to be only a smokescreen designed to cover their real intentions. The elaborate way it was planned and the involvement of every state leader gave credence to the belief that the Congress(I) high command had other things up its sleeve than just clinging on to its flock. Abdul Nazir Sab, rural development minister, observed wryly: "I don't see why they should bother hiding their intentions in the first place."

But the Congress(I) was on firmer ground when it accused Hegde of starting the defection scramble first.

With Bangarappa sailing away with five MLA's immediately after he formed the Government Hegde found his already wafer-thin majority in the Assembly crumbling and was keen on boosting his strength. One way was to make 12 of the 14 independent MLA's supporting him associate members of the Janata Party in April. Five of them - H.K. Mallappa, B.S. Basavana Gowda, G.F. Upnal, C. Byre Gowda and Chigeri Gowda - were made chairmen of boards and corporations to keep them happy.

The other was wooing disgruntled Congress(I) MLA's into the party and in fact state Janata Party President D. Manjunatha announced that the doors were open for interested MLA's.

Asserts Moily: "We were never bothered about the Janata Government though it was in the minority right from the beginning. But when Hegde started robbing our house he should have expected that we would not sit quietly. It became a question of our survival." It also gave the Congress(I) high command a convenient excuse to order its state leaders to topple the Government.

The Congress(I) was helped in its bid by some unhealthy scrapping within the Janata Party, especially among Cabinet ministers, which Hegde brushes aside as "minor differences of opinion". Labour Minister Azeez Sait, one of the four ministers named in the Moily tapes, has been very vocal about the Janata's unhelpful attitude towards minorities.

He even threatened to quit if Hegde did not modify his chauvinist stand on the delicate language tussle over the supremacy of Kannada in the state.

With the Janata Party being dominated by the two major communities of the state the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats, who amount to 61 of the 96 Janata members, the criticism about neglect towards minorities and backward classes struck a sore point and it was exploited by the Congress(I).

In fact the January assembly elections saw the return of these two communities in unprecedented numbers - 115 out of a house of 225 - undoing 11 years of work done by Devraj Urs to break their domination by promoting the backward classes and minorities.

This time round the scheduled castes have only two men in the ministry, though they have 18 MLA's in comparison with the eight members from the two upper castes.

Hegde was also having problems with the two major communities who were bickering constantly. The ambitious H.D. Deva Gowda, public works minister who belongs to the Vokkaliga community, had emerged as number two in the Cabinet after masterminding Hegde's convincing Kanakapura by-election victory last May.

Azeez Sait: Vocal criticism

To clip his wings Hegde propped up Jeevaraj Alva, minister of state for youth services, and a Vokkaliga against him. Gowda, who hobnobs with Congress(I) leaders as though they are his own partymen, was naturally piqued and voiced his dissatisfaction among his friends.

The state Janata party too was fraying at the edges. The 26 KKR members who had joined the Janata Party before the Government was formed grumbled that their supporters were being ignored in party circles.

This was because Janata Party members are still unhappy with Hegde for giving the former KKR members so much representation in the ministry. Of the 26 former KKR members eight have been appointed cabinet ministers and two as ministers of state as against eight cabinet ministers and six minissters of state from the 62 Janata MLA's.

The lack of cohesiveness in the party machinery became glaringly apparent when the Janata failed to carry out a counter-propaganda campaign at the district level against the rumours spread by the Congress(I) about the defectors. The Government had other chinks.

The 14 independents who professed to support Hegde's Government were restless and while Hegde kept five of them happy by making them chairmen of various boards and corporations he could not dole out posts for each of them as otherwise he would have been severely criticised. Observed a Janata Party leader: "With all these drawbacks it is a wonder that we are still ruling the state after the Congress(I) toppling moves."

Deciding to exploit the situation before Hegde got a complete grip on his party the Congress(I) high command prepared a 'hit list' of 34 potential defectors in September belonging to the Janata Party, the BJP and the independents.

The controversial S. Bangarappa was roped in for two reasons: he had an image as a backward class leader which the Congress(I) needed and also apart from the five MLA's in his party Bangarappa promised to rope in nine more.

K.H. Patil, the fiery Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee(I) (KPCC-I) president, was placed in charge of operations in the state supervised by Union ministers Buta Singh and S.M. Krishna at the Central level. The responsibility of bringing in defectors was divided among state leaders.

According to party sources the final break-up was S. Bangarappa nine, Gundu Rao three, S.M. Krishna three, K.H. Patil three, Moily four, B.M. Patil, an influential MLA, two and H.C. Srikantiah, a former minister in Rao's cabinet, three.

Each of them were asked to get the signature of the defecting MLA on three papers: one stating that they were withdrawing support from the Janata Government, another saying that they had joined the Congress(I) party and a third a letter to be released to the press containing this information.

The Congress(I) also counted on the support of the five Maharashtra Ekkikaran Samithi (MES) MLA's and the lone AIADMK member, all of whom are now backing Hegde. All this was calculated to boost its present strength of 81 in the legislature to around 115, which is two more than required to form the Government.

The Congress(I) tried all the tricks in its bag to woo defectors, cash, of course, being the main inducement. Even before the Moily tapes were exposed when the assembly session was on last September six MLA's stood up and announced on the floor of the house much to the Congress(I) party's embarrassment, that they had been offered sums varying from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh to defect.

Accused Hegde: "Over Rs 3 crore was sent from Delhi to engineer defections. Local leaders are only carrying out the orders given to them by their bosses at the Centre."

Where money failed to work pressure was brought to bear on the MLA's either by stirring up caste and communal feelings or through old friendships. Bangera, the BJP MLA who claimed to have been hypnotised by Bangarappa, belongs to the same caste, Ediga, as the KKR leader and pressure was exercised through the community leaders.

Social Welfare Minister Chandra Prabha Urs, daughter of the late Devraj Urs, was to be pressurised by her mother Chickamani who was a good friend of Nirmala Deshpande, a close associate of Mrs Gandhi. J. Ramesh the young minister of state for home, was to be roped in by his mentor B.M. Patil who hails from Bijapur, his home district. Food Minister G. Basavanappa was to be lured into the Congress(I) lair with the lollypop of a better cabinet post.

If the efforts of the Congress(I) did not succeed it has only itself to blame. The state leaders in charge of Operation Topple fought like vultures and the cacophony that resulted was picked up by Hegde. He then devised the clever technique of taping conversations between Congress(I) leaders and would-be defectors to tune the rest of the public into the goings-on in the state.

By giving equal importance to the state leaders the Congress(I) thought that it would be able to resolve their differences. But instead it seemed only to aggravate them. The result was that everybody was trying to prove his importance by madly scrambling to rope in defectors resulting in Hegde immediately getting wind of the toppling moves.

While the Central leadership wanted the whole operation to be done without too much publicity H.N. Nanje Gowda, a Congress(I) MP, first jumped the gun by openly announcing a deadline by when the Government would be toppled. Then Hegde trapped Puttadas, a KPCC(I) general secretary, by taping his alleged conversation with Yelahanka MLA V. Srinivasan in which he asked him to defect.

In his eagerness to prove his influence Moily fell easily into Hegde's trap. Congress(I) sources say that Byre Gowda was to come anyway to the party because his close relative Chowdha Reddy, a Congress(I) MLA, had already talked him into it. Moily need not have tried grabbing Gowda, burning his fingers badly as a result and his party's chances for the moment.

Leadership Squabbles: The bungling by the local Congress(I) leaders brought to the forefront the inherent differences between them and has allowed the Janata Party to fight back with a lot more confidence. Even if the Congress(I) does succeed in uprooting the Government it will still have a hard time deciding the chief minister.

BJP leader Acharya: Waiting game

Gundu Rao is keeping out of the race but as long as the Centre listens to him he will do everything to keep Moily out of the reckoning; anyway, Moily is already out after the tapes affair. Bangarappa is a strong contender for the post but there are many in the Congress(I) who dislike him.

Of course, if he is not made chief minister this time - he was thwarted in his effort to become chief minister instead of Hegde - he may have no qualms about pulling out his MLA's and waiting for another chance. H.C. Srikantiah, the king of defectors, is also making his bid.

At the Central level, Union ministers S. Shankaranand, C. Jaffer Sharief, S.M. Krishna and Veerendra Patil are jockeying for the post and cancel each other out. Out of this imbroglio K.H. Patil, the portly KPCC(I) chief, has emerged as the strongest contender, his only defect being that he had a brief honeymoon with the Brahmananda Reddy Congress before he returned to Mrs Gandhi fold.

As a local Congress(I) leader said: "We are no longer talking about toppling the Government. That's done already. Right now we are not acting because we haven't sorted out the leadership issue as yet."

Realising that the threat was still real Hegde has been busy last fortnight gathering his forces. Unable to match Congress(I) money power he decided to cut down his jaunts outside the state and do some touring in his home base. He set off on an extensive tour of north Karnataka, a Congress(I) bastion, where he replayed the famous Moily tapes in every public meeting he addressed.

Hegde kept telling those who attended the meetings that the fate of his government lay in their hands. In Bijapur he said: "My government is your child. No one can shake us as long as we have your blessings."

Winning Support: Hegde's strategy was clear. If he could incite the public to protest against defectors then those who planned to switch alliances would freeze in their tracks. The demonstrations against Hutchmasti Gowda and Bangera are examples of how effective this technique could be. Hegde decided to win national support too.

The nine-party United Front, of which his party is a major constituent, had its executive meeting in Bangalore last fortnight where it resolved to launch a nation-wide movement to compel the ruling party to give up its dangerous course of toppling non-Congress(I) governments.

Meanwhile, the chief minister busied himself in setting his house in order. He told his cabinet ministers to settle their differences. Said Information Minister M. Raghupathy: "Everyone has been made aware of the crisis. We know if we quarrel any more we will collapse. All our differences have been sunk."

Bangalore youths demonstrate against the topple bid: Gaining public sympathy

Hegde's last resort is appealing to the people to prevent defections. Although he would like to dissolve the Assembly and go for a fresh poll it is doubtful whether Governor A.N. Banerjee would yield to his request.

Banerjee is already piqued with Hegde over his white paper presented to the Assembly in which he called all governors "glorified servants" and when 52 Congress(I) and KKR MLA's protested in the house they were suspended and the session adjourned.

According to Janata sources Hegde had planned to dissolve the house but being uncertain of support from other parties and even his own MLA's he dropped the idea. In fact, at the end of September, when the first tapes recording conversations in which the Congress(I) was alleged to switch sides were exposed, Hegde, fearing a loss of majority, adjourned the Assembly one week ahead of schedule - and is unlikely to recall it until he feels more confident of the support of his allies.

Moreover the Congress(I) is keen to rule in Karnataka rather than impose President's Rule so that it can re-establish its credibility in the state and it is doubtful whether they would like Banerjee to dissolve the Assembly.

If the Janata Government is still holding on it is largely because of the seasoned fighter that Hegde is and his personal charisma which even his partymen cannot resist. Hegde has mellowed considerably from the playboy image that he had when he was finance minister of the state more than a decade ago. Gone is the arrogant Hegde.

In his place he cleverly installed an image of simplicity and warmth that has appealed to his partymen and the public.

As soon as he took over as chief minister Hegde dispensed with the siren in his car and preferred to be driven around in an ordinary Indian car in stark comparison to the Mercedes Benz which Gundu Rao purchased to drive around town.

He refused to use the state helicopter except in emergencies and made himself so accessible to the people that in the first few months he devoted at least three hours every day to meeting people outside his office and giving them a sympathetic hearing. Even the troublesome Azeez Sait said admiringly: "Hegde is a gentleman first, then a chief minister."

Hegde is well liked by his cabinet ministers too; they praise him for giving them full freedom to run their ministries without interference. In Cabinet meetings he is always busy balancing the various forces and Nazir Sab observed: "Right now he is the fittest leader to head the Government in this fluid political situation."

But Hegde's folly is his inability to take quick decisions because he has to balance so many forces and factions within and without his party. Much of his problems are also because of his easy-going nature. Said Sait: "I am yet to see a man like Urs who can rise and act and use force if necessary. Hegde is too soft a gentleman."

Inherent Obstacles: But Hegde is not to blame entirely for softpedalling issues. Indecision is an inherent defect of a minority government that is desperately trying to please everyone but on many occasions pleasing no one and Hegde's government is no exception. Even while forming his Cabinet Hegde had to sacrifice experience and ability for such considerations as keeping various factions happy by giving each representation.

When he formed his ministry consisting of 16 Cabinet ministers and eight ministers of state Hegde was forced to divide the spoils equally between his partymen and the 32 KKR men who joined the Janata Party when the Government was formed.

Except for appointing chairmen for 18 boards and corporations Hegde has been unable to expand his team so far because he has not yet been able to appease all sections. As a result administrative work is being seriously hampered. Said a senior Karnataka bureaucrat: "Hegde is caught between the devil and the deep sea. He has to either expand or perish."

Hegde finds that he must also keep the 'friendly' parties that are supporting him like the BJP, the CPI, the CPI(M), the MES and the Independents in good humour - a task that he is finding increasingly difficult to do.

His main ally, the BJP which has a strength of 18 members in the Assembly and is vital for Hegde's survival, have always complained about his performance. They were upset recently by the fact that Hegde failed to consult them on many issues before taking a decision.

Allied Complaints: They cite the Zilla Parishad Bill to decentralise the administration which Hegde introduced in the Assembly without checking with them first. Said BJP leader V.S. Acharya: "Hegde can't have the cake and eat it too."

The present cold relations of the BJP and the Janata Party at the national level have not helped and Chandra Shekhar's frequent outbursts against the BJP have only served to exacerbate the issue. But the BJP became quite vocal with its complaints and, consequently, Hegde promised to consult them on all important matters.

But the BJP will not try and withdraw its support to the Government because they would then be accused by the Janata Party of topping the Government and allowing the Congress(I) to form one. As Raghupathy puts jt: "They are with us because of historical necessity and for their own benefit too."

The BJP's game of running down Hegde's Government on certain issues is also to ensure that Hegde and his Janata Party do not perform so well that its own base is eroded.

The other parties supporting Hegde were also quick to realise this and both the CPI(M) and the CPI regularly criticise the Government for non-peformance but in the same breath say they would not withdraw their support to the Janata Party Government.

The BJP, the CPI and the CPI(M) now plan to revive their earlier attempt to launch a state-wide protest against rising prices, corruption and growing alienation of the working classes from the Government. M.S. Krishnan, CPI leader, gives the reason: "While we are opposed to the Congress(I)'s toppling game we can't close our eyes to the Janata follies."

Twin Goals: With his brittle majority Hegde has to do a lot of tight-rope walking while running the Government. He is under tremendous pressure to show performance as well as ensure that none of the parties supporting him are disgruntled over the measures he is adopting.

Although he has had hardly 11 months to function Hegde's performance or the lack of it has come under increasing fire. When he took charge he had the twin goals of building Karnataka as a model Janata-ruled state as well as using the opportunity to revive his party's flagging fortunes at the national level.

The last 11 months have seen him concentrating a bit too much on the latter by first forming a southern chief ministers' council and also setting out ambitiously to restructure Centre-state relations. Fumed K.H. Patil: "He has hardly any time to apply his mind to the state. I am at a loss to know whether he is the chief minister of Karnataka or the opposition leader of India."

On the home front Hegde's Government has made a flurry of ambitious plans which would take more than five years to fructify.

To project the image of a clean government, encourage decentralisation and retain political support, the Government introduced three significant bills: the Lok Ayukta Bill, to eliminate corruption among public servants including the chief minister; the Zilla Parishad Bill to decentralise legislative and administrative power; and the Anti-defection Bill to prevent political horse-trading. After months they still remain what they are - bills.

On the economic front, facing a Rs 200 crore budget deficit Hegde is severely cramped although he has announced grandiose schemes including a massive rural employment programme that is to provide jobs for 5 lakh people in villages in the next five years.

It is a massive industrial scheme that seeks to encourage small-scale and village industries and has just taken off. Already 5,000 small-scale industrial units have been set up and the Industries Deparment is clearing 100 new-industries every month.

Perhaps the Janata Government's most successful scheme has been providing drinking water to 6,000 villages by sinking almost 10,000 borewells at a cost of Rs 21 crore. The Government plans to provide drinking water to all 26,000 villages by March next year.

While Hegde has provided concessions worth Rs 36 crore to farmers he has not been able to yield to their basic demand of wiping out their cooperative loans.

Sharp Criticism: On many key issues the Government failed to take a firm stand and came in for some sharp criticism. It failed to remove the obnoxious capitation fee and instead passed an ordinance allowing private medical and engineering colleges to collect fees for another five years, by which time, of course, the Government may not exist to abolish the fee.

On the delicate language front, after appeasing the agitators who are demanding supremacy for Kannada, Hegde trod on their toes when he yielded to a demand made by Sait to allow Class III and Class IV employees to attempt the selection examination without knowing Kannada. Previously it was compulsory.

Now the pro-Kannada agitators, joined by matinee idol Raj Kumar's fan association, plan to launch a massive protest against the government order.

The common man too has been grumbling at Hegde's inability to control the price spiral. Recently he effected a rise in the price of milk by 40 paise a litre, rice by 10 paise to 15 paise a kg, bus fare from 10 paise to 40 paise a stage and power from 5 paise to 20 paise a unit giving his detractors a stick to beat him with.

Although no serious corruption charges have been proved against the Government various allegations are now trickling in and Hegde will have some answering to do. The Government is accused of showing favouritism by allotting a construction contract worth Rs 30 crore to two construction companies and awarding another controversial contract to a local brewery for arrack production which would fetch the brewer Rs 1.5 crore more annually.

The Janata Government has also been accused of transferring bureaucrats and engineers to suit the whim of its MLA's. Manik Rao Patil, a Congress(I) leader said almost mechanically: "Corruption has never been so rampant in the state. There is not a single department in which there is no corruption."

Election Victories: Hegde himself is unruffled by these charges of corruption and says scoffingly: "This is only for the sake of making an allegation. So far as this government isconcerned I can say it with confidence that none of us have been bribed or taken money."

The people seem to believe him, judging by the results of by-elections and civic polls held in the past 11 months. In the legislative council by-election held in March last the Janata won both the seats.

While being elected to the Assembly Hegde registered a thumping victory in the Kanakapura by-election while the Congress(I) retained Yelburga defeating the Janata-supported BJP candidate. In the civic polls held in August the Janata took absolute control of 45 of the 166 town municipalities while the Congress(I) captured only 26 although independents emerged as a major force taking a firm grip on 32 towns.

The Congress(I) does not have the firepower at the moment to go to the polls on the issue of non-performance as the Janata has had hardly any time to function. Instead the Congress(I) is concentrating on thwarting Hegde's plan to incite the people against defectors.

Last week its 81 MLA's set out on a march from Chikmagalur to Bangalore to protest against the "assault" on Hutchmasti Gowda. In doing so they wanted to show potential defectors that they were throwing its might behind them.

As a follow-up protest marches are to be organised in district headquarters and the Congress(I) will carry out a ceaseless campaign to topple the Government. Said KPCC(I) chief Patil ominiously: "I am interested in strengthening my party both inside the Assembly and outside. If MLA's want to join my party I can't stop them. Until Hegde carries the people and the majority with him I am not going to disturb him but if he loses his majority he goes too."

The battle lines are drawn and the Congress(I) is bent upon crushing the "small kingdom" in its mighty albeit crumbling empire. Hegde is truly under siege.

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